Recruitment and Placement in Adoption and Foster Care Play Roles in the Prevention of Human Trafficking – January is Human Trafficking Month
- Adoption , Foster Parent Recruitment , Latest News
- January 18, 2025
Recruitment and placement in adoption and foster care play significant roles in the prevention of human trafficking and in 2025 Let It Be Us will expand into Specialized Recruitment to serve this underserved population.
January observes Human Trafficking Prevention Month, which includes raising awareness about the risks and protections related to child welfare. The observances throughout the month play a crucial role in highlighting issues related to child welfare, trafficking and exploitation.
Girls in foster care and shelters are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, with several studies highlighting this alarming connection. Notable statistics include:
- Prevalence Among Trafficking Victims: The National Foster Youth Institute estimates that 60% of child sex trafficking victims have histories in the child welfare system, including foster care.
- Risk Factors: Children in foster care often experience Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma, and instability, increasing their susceptibility to traffickers who exploit these vulnerabilities.
- Runaway Youth: Youth who run away from foster care are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking, as they may lack safe housing and support networks, making them targets for exploitation.
Adoption and foster care play pivotal roles in safeguarding children from the vulnerabilities that can lead to human trafficking. Traffickers often target individuals who lack stable homes, support systems, and emotional security – circumstances that disproportionately affect children without permanent families. By providing safe, nurturing homes, adoption and foster care disrupt the cycles of instability and neglect that traffickers exploit. And to take it one step further, by providing the right home, means less placement disruptions, and longer term stability. This is where the critical strategies of recruitment and placement come into play.
Recruiting individuals for adoption and foster care from specific populations with experience with childhood trauma – teaching professionals, medical professionals, mental health care professionals – allows for stronger placements. Recruiting individuals for adoption and foster care from specific populations with experience with special needs – autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, deaf and hard of hearing – allows for stronger placements. Furthermore, recruiting individuals for adoption and foster care from specific populations with experience with girls, trauma and human trafficking – also allows for stronger placements. These strategies are at the fundamental center of the Let It Be Us Theory of Change. Recruit from the right populations and match children’s needs with caregiver/parent’s strengths and outcomes significantly improve.
Children who experience family instability are at a heightened risk of trafficking because they often lack protective adult figures and consistent supervision. Foster care and adoption, when implemented effectively, provides these children with a secure environment where they can rebuild trust and develop healthy relationships. By removing children from harmful situations and placing them in homes that prioritize their well-being, foster care and adoption acts as a crucial buffer against exploitation.
Similarly, adoption offers children the chance to find permanent families who are invested in their long-term safety and development. Unlike temporary arrangements, adoption creates a stable, loving foundation that reduces the risk of children falling through societal cracks. This permanence instills a sense of belonging and self-worth, both of which are powerful protective factors against trafficking.
Whether the need is short term, long term, or forever, at Let It Be Us our Theory of Change is that when you have a wide array of skilled and trained parents there is the perfect placement for every child. At Let It Be Us, our Theory of Change is applied through unique diligent special needs recruitment which, when combined with excellent client experience and support, results in an innovative and intelligent database rich with foster and adoptive parents who are the type of serious individuals we need to embark on the challenge of caring for our most vulnerable children.
In 2025 Let It Be Us looks forward to partnering with Shelter, Inc. as they open their new warm, welcoming and safe shelter for girls and young women who have escaped human trafficking. For those girls who return to foster care, and those who are in need of adoptive placements, Let It Be Us will be the ones to manage the recruitment of these most exceptional parents for these most exceptional girls. Together we will be serving the Chicagoland area with an emphasis on the severely under-resourced counties of Cook, Kane, DuPage, McHenry and Lake. This DCFS-licensed CSEC Home and Program (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) will be the first of its kind in Illinois.
Dr. Susan A. McConnell is the Founder and Executive Director of Let It Be Us, an Illinois licensed child welfare agency with the mission of providing collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement within Illinois foster care and adoption. Susan has an MBA from DePaul University and a Doctorate Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California, where her work focused on permanency within child welfare. She is the Chair of the Permanency Committee of the Illinois Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council, appointed by the Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in 2017. She is also an adoptive parent with over 30 years of open adoption experience. She can be reached at susanmcconnell@letitbeus.org.
Sources and References:
At Risk for Sex Trafficking: Youth Who Run Away From Foster Care
